Meherwan Irani’s Famed Indian Street Food at Chai Pani

Toast in a dry skillet/pan on medium heat until spices are warm to the touch and you can smell the distinctive fragrance of the roasted spices. Cool and grind coarsely in a coffee grinder.

“Garam Masala goes well with dark leafy green braises and with meat dishes. At Chai Pani, we use it as a last minute addition to our Saag Paneer & Butter Chicken,” Irani says of the spices. “It’s typically used as a finishing spice to add aromatics to the dish in the last stage of cooking.

It’s a useful addition to your home kitchen, as well, as he points out: “At home I’d recommend using it in a beef or vegetable stew, any kind of chickpea or lentil soup or stew, chilis, roasted shoulder or leg of lamb, and even when cooking rice (add a pinch to the water to infuse the rice with fragrance).”

“Chai Pani” translates literally to “tea and water,” but colloquially it’s the trek one makes for a snack or sip, a cup of tea or plate of spicy vittles. That’s what you’ll find at downtown’s favored Indian haunt, Chai Pani.

Decked in ornaments as colorful as the food on its plates, Chai Pani has become a culinary mainstay for locals and tourists alike since it was opened in 2009 by three-time James Beard nominee Meherwan Irani. Its menu features the stuff of chai pani, “chaat,” savory munchies to prep the palate, as well as thalis, family-style meals rife with color and flavor.

“I’ve been in love with food and cooking and restaurants and the entire culture around food pretty much from when I arrived here,” says the India native, who found his way to the US via an MBA program in San Francisco. When he arrived in the ’90s, it was to a mecca of modern Californian cuisine that awakened his tastebuds. He also likens the emergence of the Food Network to the early days of MTV: “It was so informative for the way Americans think of food,” he says with a laugh.

But still, he found something lacking in the American food scene: authentic Indian cuisine. The north Indian curry buffets dotted around big cities seemed a muted representative of culinary culture to Irani, who sought out instead quiet hole-in-the-wall chaat houses.

Irani moved east with a career in sales, but following the real estate crash in 2008, his wife Molly asked him a simple question: if he weren’t tied by responsibility and sensibility, what would he do? The answer was simple: food. “It was one of those ‘Eureka’ moments, “I sat bolt upright, and the idea for Chai Pani was fully formed in my head.” Within 30 minutes, he was showing the menu to Molly.

Now he’s able to pursue his passion—food—via a series of restaurants (you’ll find others in Decatur and Atlanta), dishes, and spice mixes like this his Garam Masala (his latest venture includes Spicewalla Brand, a fresh, small-batch spice company).